Know Your Identity

very loudly welcome all of our campuses this morning that are worshiping with us? (congregation cheering) Great to be with you. I was checking out when the last time I was here preaching, does anybody know? It was February 6th of 2022. That's when we opened up and that's when I was here. Is it okay if I come back sooner next time? (congregation cheering) It is a privilege to be here. Love what the Lord's doing through brave. Love what He's doing in this campus. God's continuing to open prison campuses. As you know, in Inglewood we're doing a bunch of renovations. We're gonna be adding parking lot space here. How do you like your new LED walls? Is that all right? (congregation cheering) Yep. So God's doing some great things and we believe He's just getting started. Our best days are always ahead, amen. So let's prepare our hearts. Let's get ready to hear God's living an active word among us. We pray with me. Our Father in heaven we do. We give you glory. We give you honor.

We give you praise for who you are. Lord, we just thank you this very day that you were at work on all your campuses and around the globe. Lord, we pray today that you would move in and through your living an active word and that each and every one of us would hear clearly from you because Lord, we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are speaking to our prayer this morning is speak Lord for we are ready to hear. And so now for all who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, speak directly to you who will believe what He says and who will by faith put into practice, what He shows you will you agree with me very loudly by saying the word amen. Amen. Last week we started this series, "No Mercy," and we began the series by looking in a mirror. We begin by taking a look that we had three different enemies, the devil, the world, and our sinful self. But we specifically talked about the enemy that we rarely like to talk about. And that's the enemy that's not on the outside. It's the enemy that's right inside of us. And in taking a look at Romans chapter seven and the Apostle Paul, we were encouraged because we realized that even Paul was saying, I don't understand what I'm doing. I wanna do good, but I don't do the good.

I wanna do evil. So what's wrong with me? And who will rescue me from this body of death? And we needed to spell out the problem 'cause you need to know your enemy 'cause if you don't know your enemy, you don't know how to defeat your enemy. And so we had to spend time, but I know a lot of people walked away and they, what's the solution? Like now I know that I'm thoroughly a sinner and even after becoming a Christian, I can still sin. So what do I do? And I said, come back next week. And we're gonna continue this series because here's the point. Today, last week we took a look at what's in you. Today we're gonna take a look at the real you. We're gonna take a look at who Jesus died for and what you become when you become a Christian. And if you miss out on your identity and you don't know who you are, you will struggle for the rest of your life. I think this teaching this morning is one of the most undertaught in the entire church. And if you don't teach this, you go one of two directions. You begin to realize this, I'm desperate. Like I know I'm a sinner, I become a Christian. I can't get this Christian thing right.

It's not working for me. Every time I try to do good, I can't do it. I worked for everybody else. It doesn't work for me. I'm done, why try? And you either get to a place of, well, God just forgives me no matter what or just complete despair where you say, I don't even wanna be around these Christian people anymore. Or you come to the other side where you have legalism. And legalism is where you cherry pick your favorite rules and you begin to make up, well, this is what it means to be a Christian and this is what it means to be a Christian. You need to do this and not do this and do this and not do this. And then we form groups around our favorite ones and we ostracize anybody that doesn't keep our favorite ones. Anybody grow up in a legalistic environment? How you dress, what you look at, what you wear, all these kinds of things. But it has nothing to do with the heart. And you either have legalism or you have what's called anti-nomianism. No moss is a Greek word for law, so against the law, so the law doesn't matter or the law is the only thing that matters and we miss out on the most important thing to teach and that's your identity in Jesus Christ. At Brave we talk about the are being resolute

in your identity, unwavering in your identity. So it's important that you know what your identity is because when Jesus Christ died on the cross he didn't just die to forgive your sin. He fundamentally changed your identity. When you become a Christian, it's not just your sins forgiven, you're fundamentally different. And so today we're actually gonna be in Romans chapter six. You say, well, why are we going backwards? 'Cause I wanted you to see the problem because the same book that gives you the problems, also the same book that gives you the solution, amen? And so today we're gonna be in Romans chapter six, one to 11, I just invite you to turn there in your word. And let's just read those aloud and then we'll unpack them together. I'll give you four truths about your identity today. Paul says, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so the grace may increase? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness

of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so we would no longer be slaves to sin. For He who has died is free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ has been raised from the dead is never to die again, death no longer is master over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. And as you take a look at this passage, I think it's really, really important because if you left yesterday, I mean, or last week, you're probably walking away with, okay, so what do we do? Like, what happens now? In Romans chapter five, what Paul was pointing out is the law was given so that the trust pass would increase. In other words, God gave us the law. It's a mirror, there's nothing wrong with it. As a matter of fact, it's great because every time you look into the mirror, you see God's holy, He's righteous, He's good. He's perfect, the more you study God's law, the more you'll realize, what an incredible God we serve. Here's the problem, the law intensifies our sin because now we know what sin is.

Paul said, how would I have known what to covet was unless it said do not covet, but once the law said do not covet, every part of me wanted to be a covetter, right? Once the law says don't, we say why. It's the example I gave last week of the big black tarp in front of the screen with the big red letter saying, whatever you do, don't look in this hole. And everything in this is like why? I wanna look, why? Because the law intensifies your sin. That's why the law can't fix you, but the law can show you what's wrong. So Paul's asking the same question many of us ask, well, what then shall we say? Should we just go on sinning? So grace will abound all the more of me. I'm doomed, I'm a sinner. You said I was a sinner. You said the devil was gonna tempt me. You said the world gives me pleasures and you said there's nothing I can do about it and the sin doesn't go away until I meet Jesus. So here's the question. Should we just sin a lot? Because the more we sin, the more grace we get. So shouldn't we just continue to sin? That's the question. And you know what Paul's answer is?

May it never be. In the Greek, it's may, good noito. It means heck, no. It means by no means. It means don't even think about it. Like that's not the answer. The answer is not sin more and get more grace. The answer is stop sinning completely. And here's why he's gonna tell us that we're able to do it. I'm gonna give you four truths this morning. The first is this, that you died with Christ. You died with Christ. When you became a believer, your old self died. Your old self is done. It's gone. It's no longer there. Notice what he says. May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? In other words, sin is what was killing you. So how can you go back to the very thing that was killing you? I've never met somebody who was cured from cancer that's asked the doctor. Can you inject me with some more cancer to see if I can get cured again? Nobody would ask that. That's what was killing you. So you don't wanna go back into it. We died to sin. Now here's what you need to understand.

At the moment you trust Christ, you might have ended a revival service. You might have had a friend share the gospel. You might have been driving down the road. All of a sudden it clicked. Jesus, his Lord, he died for my sins. He rose from the dead. I know he's real. I'm gonna repent and give my life to him. When that happens, who you were before you repented and believed, that person's gone. They died because Jesus Christ died. You were crucified with Christ, your old self's gone. And here's what tends to happen. The enemy wants you to think nothing's changed. Yes, we look the same on the outside when we come to Christ. But on the inside, nothing could be further from the truth. You are so fundamentally different. So here's what happens. Whoever you were before you got saved, the enemy will tell you that's who you really are. You're a really successful businessman. You're a football player. You're this, you're that, you're rich. All those things died. The moment you came to Christ, here's the fundamental thing that's true about you. I am in Christ Jesus and I belong to him and that's the most truthful thing about myself.

Amen. (audience applauding) And if you miss out on what God says you are and who God says you are, you will try for the rest of your life in futility. I'm going to try to be really good now. I just can't make it. I'm going to try to be really good now. It's just not working. And you'll be miserable. But if you can identify with the fact, your old self died. You're dead. That guy, that gal, gone. The moment you said, Jesus, I do, that old self is gone. You're dead. That's no longer who you are. But the enemy will lie to you and tell you, nothing's changed. You've always been the same. I know some people that have had testimonies where they've genuinely come to Christ and they've told people they've come to Christ. And some have said, no, you've always believed that. You've just kind of grown in your faith a little bit. No, when you cross the line of faith, the old you died and something else is taking place. He says, or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death. Baptism here is talking about being immersed into or becoming like.

And when you come to Christ, you've been baptized into Christ. Jesus, you've also been baptized into the body of Christ. So when you become baptized into Christ, you're also baptized into his death. Jesus Christ, when he died for sins, what did he say? It is, say it with me out loud, finished. It's done. It's paid in full. I died for that. When you come to Christ, your old self dies to that. You're dead. Who you were before he came. That one's dead. You need to have a funeral for that self. And many times we don't. Many times we try to just pick up the pieces and we add Jesus to our old life thinking that'll help. Because this is who I am and now I have Jesus and I'll add Jesus to my old self and then we'll partner together and have success in this world. Now, your dad, Jesus didn't come to give you prosperity in this world. Jesus Christ came to pay for your sins because you're dead and you needed a Savior. Amen? So that's why he came. So you've died with Christ. Notice what he goes on to say in verse four. Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death.

We have been. It's a past tense event. As a Christian, listen, spiritually, there's already been a funeral on your behalf. You've already died. And if you've ever been to a funeral, you know how final funerals are. So there's such sadness and grief at funerals because it's final. And even when we see it coming, it's final. Even when we don't see it coming, it's final. Friends, listen, when you died with Christ, it's final. It's over. The old you is gone. Here's what tends to happen to a lot of new believers. The enemy will lie to you and say, there's nothing changed about you. You're pretty much the same. Now just try hard. Commit better. Do better. You probably should go to church. You probably should do. And if you think that you can get over your sin by trying harder, it doesn't work. I can save you all the time in the world. There's not a Christian ever who has committed their way out of a sin problem. There's not a Christian ever who has worked their way out of a sin problem.

You have to die to who you were in order that you can live the way Christ wants you to live. Amen? So you're dead. If you've trusted in Christ, the old you before you trusted, that one's gone. Quit trying to resurrect that one. The enemy will always try to get you to resurrect your old self. If you find yourself saying, well, this is just who I am. Now that's who you were. Well, you gotta understand, this is who I am. That's not who you are. You are who God says you are. That's why Paul says in Galatians 2.20. I have been what? I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, the life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm in crucified with Christ. I'm not living anymore. There's no life in me. The only life in me that's worth living is Jesus Christ who dwells in me through the power of His Holy Spirit. Or 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, what is He? He's a new creation. Old things have passed away. They're dead.

Behold, all things have been made new. You need to understand fundamentally when you trust Christ. He doesn't just wash all your sins away. He does wash all your sins away. But more than that, He fundamentally gave you an entirely new identity. You're not the same as you used to be. Amen? It's just a fact. And we don't like to talk about that. We use all sorts of illustrations like caterpillar and I missed my furry self. What happened to all my legs? Why am I—what are these things on my back? And then tried to cover them up to hang out with caterpillars. It would be the most miserable butterfly on the planet because it's no longer a caterpillar. It's got a new name. It's a butterfly. The same is true of you. The reason you need the word as a believer, the reason you need church as a believer, the reason you need prayer as a believer, the reason you need to be obedient as a believer is because you're not what you were. You're something fundamentally different, living by a new set of principles and you have to live those things out, amen? And that's what God wants you to do. And so you need to know that you've died to that. That's why Jesus invites people in the gospel this way, like in Luke 9, 23. He says, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, that's death, and follow me." You've got to die to follow Jesus. And that's why Paul talks about even in the book of Philippians, a book of great joy where everything seems to be so positive with the people he's talking to when he prays for what he's looking for. And he prays for what he wants to identify with. Here's what he says, "That I may know him in the power of his resurrections and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death." And what's he saying? "I want my old self, the me that I was, before I met Jesus to die. I wanted to be crucified. I don't want to continue to resurrect that." That's not who I am, right? It's kind of like when you get married. I mean, one of the best marriage verses, Genesis 2, 24 and 25, "For this reason a man shall leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife." Marriage doesn't work if mom and dad come on the honeymoon with you

and share a room and share all their ideas and say, "We'll just all live together and we'll be ..."No, no, no. You leave and cleave. When you are born again, you have to leave your old self and no longer identify with what you were and start looking in the Word to say, "God, who do you say that I am? God, what's really true about me? Because none of the things that you're telling me about me feel good, but I'm going to own them until I realize them." Because here's what God would say about a new creation. You are totally, completely loved. There's nothing you can do to earn my love anymore and there's nothing you can do that would make my love turn away from you. You are loved. You are forgiven. You're forgiven. You're my son. You're my daughter. You're family with me. Yeah, but don't feel like that. It doesn't matter how you feel. It's true, right? The Holy Spirit now lives inside of you. You're not the same as you used to be. I mean, all those truths are identity. And if you don't rest in your identity and let the Lord tell you, "This is who you are," you can't progress in the Christian life. And for many people, they say, "Well, that's not humble," to say that I'm totally forgiven and to say that I'm totally loved. I mean, that just doesn't feel humble. That feels arrogant. No, it's totally humble, because what you're saying is, "Lord, apart from you, I know I'm none of these things." But I praise you that this is how you see me. For many Christians, or some Christians, not many, some Christians are afraid to die and go to heaven because they think God's going to introduce you. Jesus is going to introduce you to the Father based on your sin pattern. Hey, this is Jeff. He's an alcoholic. He really struggled, but Dad, I saved him, and here he is. Hey, Dad, this is Susie. She's got a massive anger problem, and she's been a real pain in my side, but I died on the cross for her, and here she is. That is not how God thinks about you. When the Father spoke over the Son when he came out of the water and his baptism, when he said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." That is true for every single person who has repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ. Amen? It's true of you. You died with Christ, right? I mean, it's over. When Israel crossed the Red Sea and Egypt was over, they were no longer in bondage to you. It was done. It's something fundamentally new. You need to understand. Jesus didn't die simply to forgive your sin. He fundamentally changed your identity. You're somebody totally different. Somebody totally different. Second is this. Not only do you need to know you died with Christ, you need to know that you buried with Him through baptism into death." We've died with Him, but notice this, "So

that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection." See, here's the truth. And you got to say, "God didn't improve you. He made you alive." He did something better than an improvement plan. And by the way, He doesn't need your help for His improvement plan. He died because you couldn't be a better version of yourself. He died because you couldn't get to God on your own. And when you die to your old self, you also need to realize, this is good news. I think most of you noticed today, Jesus didn't stay in the grave. He got up out of the grave three days later, amen? Therefore, as you died with Christ, your old self has died with Christ. Guess what else? The new self, the new man, the new woman has been resurrected with Christ. You've been made alive by the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. And we don't realize this. I mean, you study religions the world over. Everybody claims that Islam makes, study claims that Hindus make, everybody makes. Christianity, the Bible is the only faith that says this. When you repent and trust in Jesus, not only you die to your old self, but the third person of the Trinity, God Himself comes to indwell you. He lives inside of you. The same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in you. It's true of every single believer. Now, you might have walked into the church this morning as a believer and said, "Nothing's going right for me. Let me tell you something." You got a lot going right for you this morning. The God of the universe lives inside you. Amen? I mean, that's great news. And that's what He wants us to understand. Not only does your old self die, but your new self has been resurrected. Notice how Paul spells this out in some other places in Scripture. I absolutely love this. He talks about in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4, how God being rich and mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. You've been made alive. Now, here this verse. "And raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Well that sounds strange because I'm still living here. How am I raised up in the heavenly places? Positionally, I've already been raised up in the heavenly places. Positionally, I've been raised. Practically, I'm still on the earth. But positionally, I've been raised with Christ. I mean, my resurrection is as good as done. It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with what Jesus

did for me on the cross. He's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. He dwells inside of me. The old me died. The new me has come alive. Amen? The spirit of God is in you. And if the spirit of God is not, and you're not of Christ. Romans 8 and 9 says, "If you do not have the spirit of Christ, you are not of Christ. You need Christ in your life." So know the truth. You've died, but you've also been raised. So then how shall we live? I love the way Paul talks about it in Colossians 3 in the first few verses. He says, "Therefore you have been raised with Christ." Keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Now we'll get into this in the coming weeks, but where should your focus be if you've been raised with Christ? There. On Christ. Not on me. Not on my sin. Not on the world. Not on the circumstances. Where should my focus be? If I've been raised with Christ, where should I set my mind? On Christ. Jesus already overcame the world. Where's he at? He's seated on his throne. Where should I focus? On the one that's already defeated our foe, on the one that's already conquered death, on the one that's already given me life, on the one who is my king and my personal Lord and Savior. Amen? So if you've been raised with Christ and you have, if you've been born again, then set your mind on Christ. Notice what he says. Set your mind on the things above. Not on the things of the earth. For you have died. Notice how he says, you have. It's a done deal. You have died. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. Where are you going to find life? I want the most out of life. I want to live the life. Where's your life? It's hidden in Christ with God. So if you want the fullness of your life in the Lord Jesus Christ, what do you need to Well, I just wanna be successful in the world and then I'll seek you. You'll never have fulfillment. Well, I just wanna make a lot of money and then you'll never have fulfillment. Well, I just wanna be a great athlete and then you'll never seek you. I just wanna get married and then. I just wanna have kids and you'll never. Your life is hidden with Christ in God.

That's where your life is. So where are you gonna focus on Christ? Where are you gonna get your life in Christ? 'Cause he's the one that gave you life. So if you wanna know what's my life about, what should I be doing? Seek Christ and then notice what it says. When Christ who is our life is revealed. Do you know one day Jesus is coming back? Are you looking forward to that? When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. So you've been raised. Your old self died, but your new self, the one of your true identity has already been raised and the spirit of God indwells you. John 524 says you passed out of death and into life. You, when Jesus was talking to Martha, when Lazarus was in the grave, what do you say? I am. She said, Jesus, if you'd have been here, my brother'd still be alive. He's like, I am the resurrection and the life. Not I will be, that's who I am. I'm the resurrection of life. He who believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Or how about Romans 8, verse 11? Romans 8, verse 11. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus

from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Holy Spirit who dwells in you. You're something totally different. Now, if you're a serious criminal and people are gonna attack you and they need to keep you alive 'cause you need to testify in court, they have a program called the Witness Protection Program. You heard about this? And what they do is they will give you a new identity. They'll give you a new name. They'll give you a new address. They'll give you a new license. They'll give you a new phone, a new location, a whole new identity, a whole new future. But when they do, you've gotta be done with your former life. You can't call any of your former friends. You can't be around anything that you once were. You can't talk about who you once were. You're something totally different now 'cause you're in a new realm. Same is true as a believer. Too often as believers. We come to Christ. We're thankful for his forgiveness. We love his mercy. We start enjoying church. We enjoy Christians.

It's good, but we forget that we've died to our old self and the enemy tries to get us to resurrect what we once were and tells us that's who you still are. And you're not. You're not, amen? But we make agreements with them. Like you're a moral and you're drunk and you're this and you're that and you're angry and you're mad and it's never gonna, no, that's who I was. Give you that. I am not that anymore. That part of me is dead. I am alive in Christ Jesus. Friends, something changed for me about the time you're six or seven after I'd come to Christ and I was doing the whole back and forth thing. I know I need to go in church. I know I need to try harder. I know I need to be better. I believe what the pastor's saying. I want to do good. I'm not doing very good. I'm sinning really, really good. I don't know what to do. It's just not working for me. Thank God I have grace. Oh, I better get it right and go back. And that was miserable. But when I started to learn about my identity, then even when I sinned boldly,

I would confess, Lord, that's wrong. That's who I used to be. I'm not that anymore, Lord. I'm sorry I went back and lived that way. Lord, I believe I am loved. I believe I am holy. I believe I am righteous. I believe I am good 'cause you're in me. Lord, help me to realize that and live it out in a way that you can show me everything begin to change. 'Cause when I started calling myself, not by what I saw in the law mirror, but I started calling me myself from what I saw in the word of God, everything changed. Everything changed. Amen. (audience applauding) And I'm telling you, as a believer, if you're struggling with sin, the foundational reason you're struggling with sin is your identity. You don't realize your old self already is dead. And one who is dead can't act. I mean, if you're dead, you're dead. You can't sin when you're dead, right? So what the enemy does is like, well, you're not dead. I mean, nothing really happened. You're still alive. I mean, look at the desires that you have. Look at this.

Now you can live those out, but if you say, I can't, I'm dead, I can't be a part of that anymore, then you can pass on to the newness of life. I mean, it's as amazing as when you hear a story or you've been around a story where somebody has been resuscitated at the end. Jairus' daughter from the dead. I mean, it was all new. It was new life, right? Because there's part of you that wants to say, "Well, that's still who I am." But when you really get this, when you really get, "No, that's not who I am anymore," and sin comes calling, sin will come calling you the same way it called you before you were saved, and it will say, "It's me. It's me. Remember? Come on." I got all sorts of options for you to fulfill that desire that you have. It's me. You need to run so fast the other direction and say, "Yeah, but it's not me anymore. This isn't me. That's the old me. I'm running away from that me. I'm running to the God who loves me." And the more you bask in that God, the less you'll do this. One of the best illustrations I heard was from a guy named Bob George in a book called Classic Christianity years and years ago, and he talked about the difference between a city dog and a country dog, and he said, "You know, you take a city dog and you know, they're in a short yard, and so you have to fence the dog in to protect the dog so it doesn't get run over by a car, and then usually put it on a leash or a chain so it's tied down." He said, "What happens to that dog when it's off its leash and it sees a hole in the fence?" Sprint. It's gone, right? It's out of there. What about a country dog? Country dog can go wherever it wants for miles. Where do you usually see a country dog? Sitting in the shade under a tree or right up by its master, lapping on water. Why? Because I can go anywhere it wants to go, but why would I want to run away from the one that's taking care of me? The same is true as a believer. If you live out of your old self, you'll live in fear that God's not pleased with you, and you'll stay away from God and you'll try to work on yourself. But if you understand that when you repented and believed that God sees you through the lens of his son and that you're loved, and that you're holy, and that you're good, and that you're his daughter, and that you're his son, and he just wants to embrace you, and you spend time with him, there's no other place you'd rather be. There's no other place you'd rather go. So stop sinning. That doesn't work. We're having

trouble in our marriage. This is not work. Stop. I'm just having trouble being moral. Stop. It doesn't work. Rest in your identity and get to the Father as quick as you can and let him through his words show you who you are. Let him show you who your new self is, and that will transform your wife. Amen? I mean, even Jesus was trying to explain this in the sermon on the mount when he said, "You know, if your right hand causes your sin, cut it off, your right hand causes your sin, gouge it out." He wasn't saying, take it literally, because all of us would be called lefty and patch. You know? I mean, what he was trying to say is you can do all these outward things and nothing's going to change. What you really need is a change of heart. And I'm the only one that can give you a change of heart. I'm the only one that can come in. And if I change your heart, I'll change your sight. And if I change your heart, I'll change what you touch. If I change your heart, I'll change what you look at, right? You need to change your heart. How do you get to change your heart? By resting in your new identity and resting in the arms of the one who loves you? Amen? Keep in mind, you just didn't simply die to forgive your sins. He died to give you a fundamental new identity. Amen? Let me give you a third one. Not only do you need to understand you've died with Christ and you were raised with Christ, but here's the truth. You are free in Christ. You are free in Christ. Notice what this text goes on to say. It says this, knowing this that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin for He who has died is free from sin. As a non-believer, non-believers can't change their sinful habits. Now, don't get me wrong, a non-believer could be a drinker and get over it and go to meetings and do different things, but they can't change their heart and usually you can only change your behavior for a period of time and then it cycles back. And a lot of Christians try to live the Christian life this way. Well, I used to do this and now it's been like three days since I've done that and I did it again. Maybe next time I can go four days. Maybe next time I can go five. Maybe I can go a week. Stupid because what are you putting all the attention on? My old self getting better. It's not going to get better. It died. The new self says, "Lord, I don't know if I'm ever going to do this again or not. I don't want to do it again, but if I do, I'm coming to you in full repentance, but Lord, teach me how to love what you love and hate what you hate so I don't go back there. And I'm just going to stay with you. And if I do, sin, I'm going to sin with you being there because I want to do it with you. And you go that way, sin will take care of itself, amen? Because you have a new identity and you're free in Christ.

Jesus said in John 8, "The one who the sun set free is what? Free indeed. If you continue in my my word, you're truly my disciples, then you will know the truth and the truth. So I need to be in your word on a regular basis, because the truth is what sets you free. It's for freedom that Christ Jesus set us free, Galatians 5-1. 1 Corinthians 3-17, "Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, or there is freedom." I mean, when Jesus came, He said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to proclaim freedom to the captives." That was one of the things He wanted to do, to turn people free. Now freedom is not a license to do wrong. I mean, if you get a driver's license, you are free to drive according to the rules of the road. You are not free to say, "Well, I like the way they do it in Britain better, and I'm going to drive on the left side of the road." You are not free to break the speed limit. You are not free to break the law. You are not free to run into somebody else when they don't treat you right on the highway. You are not free to break the law, but you are free so long as you walk in the rules of the road. Being free in Christ means this. It doesn't mean, "I'm free so I can do whatever I want," because if you sin, where are you? You are not free. You are in bondage. There is no freedom in bondage. So singles, well, I can sleep with my girlfriend. We can move in together because I am free to do whatever I want. No, that is called bondage. You are totally in bondage to yourself and to your sin because the old you died and now that you are alive. You are going to run from that and you are free to live morally in Christ.

And there is no price tag on a clean conscience, amen? The beauty of God's grace is I am so free that even when I do fall short and even when I do come up short, God's grace is greater than my sin. Amen? It is always greater than my sin, but it is not to put the Lord to the test. It is not to say, "Well, I know I be forgiven anyway so I can do whatever I want today. I am taking the day off." It means I am free and I am the most free when I am being obedient to the one who set me free. I mean, if you set you free from the chains that were binding you and the yoke that was heavy upon you and you couldn't get out from under it and now you are free from that, why would you want to live in it anymore? Why would you want to live around people that aren't living it? Get with God and God's people and live free. You are free to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with everything you have. Amen? You're free. Well, what does God want me to do? I want to know specifically. You're free to serve them any way you want. You're free. Hey, Lord, I'm just coming before you. I just want to honor you. The more you walk with the Lord, I find this because some people are like, "Well, what do I do?" Because you've got to know so many people you've got to know every next step. But you really don't want to know every next step because if the Lord told you every next step, you'd ask why. So the more you walk with the Lord, sometimes I say, "Take this job or that job. Should I do this or do that?"

Just go after me and I'll show you. If it's a no, you'll start feeling it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's like a siren that gets louder. Pay attention to that. I can tell you from experience, even when I was doing this series and I'm preparing my study, I'm like, "I think I'm really good at this message because I'm such an incredible center and I've experienced it so much and I hate it. And where I've been set free, I want other people to be set free too because you can be as free in Christ as any person who's ever lived." Amen? And that's what he wants for you. He doesn't want you to live in bondage. He doesn't want you to struggle. He doesn't want you to wake up and say, "Lord, I promise if you get me through this, I'll never do this." He doesn't want you to live like that. He wants you to live free when you come running to the Father and you spend time with him and you stay with him and say, "Lord, show me who I am. Let me believe my identity. Let me walk it out in truth." Amen? I mean, this is the beauty of God's truth. And sometimes it just takes a little time. I mean, you're aware that I think it was January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln, but it took some people two years to actually hear that they were free to actually believe, I mean, they were delivered. They were set free. The statement had been rendered, but it took them a little bit of time until they were, I mean, I'm free, right? That happens to a lot of believers.

The moment you trust in Christ, you are as free as you ever could be. But sometimes it just takes a little while and you got to get in the Word and you got to be around some other people that can help you to show you, you're totally free. You never need to live that way again. If you live that way again, it was your choice and you're not going to like it and it's going to be awful. So sometimes people are like, "Pastor Jeff, you're not hard enough on sin. You need to preach sin more." If me yelling or turning tomato face would get people to stop sinning, I'd do it. But it doesn't work. works is if you understand who you are and you and you understand you're free in Christ, everything begins to change. Everything begins to change and God wants you to live a life like that. I mean you have to understand, I mean I talked about this earlier, when Israel crossed the Red Sea and Egypt was swamped by it and they're on the other side singing victory songs because they've been delivered, that wasn't their ultimate goal. God did not deliver them from the hands of Egypt just so they could live out in the desert. What was the ultimate place for them to be? Crossing the Jordan, that was their place of deliverance. How long did it take them? 40 plus years. Do you know why? Because they celebrated the fact that they had been delivered from Egypt but they didn't know how to walk with God and it took years until they're like, "Okay God, we'll do it your way," then they crossed, then they saw God's good hand, then they conquered, then they did it and for too many believers we wait too many years to walk in the fullness of what God's calling us to right now. And the lie of the enemy, one of the lies of the enemy is, "Okay, I'm good if you get started on this whole Christmas, just start tomorrow. Tomorrow will be good.

I mean, Sunday is your afternoon off, start Monday." And then when you do your Bible study on Monday, you're like, "Eh, school is getting started soon. I'm busy on Monday. Just do it Tuesday. And then on Tuesday it rolls around and, "Hey, Wednesday's probably your best. I mean, Tuesday's a busy day at the church and you got stuff going on. So let's do it Wednesday." Do you understand how he works? There's never going to be a time where the enemy doesn't tempt your flesh to go back to the way you were and abandon yourself from God. And here's what God's calling you all the time, "Hey, come to me. There's total freedom in me." And here's the truth. Listen to how many non-Christians say, "Well, I don't want to become a believer, I became a believer to take away all my fun." Now, you'd actually be delivered from bondage and you'd be free for the very first time in your life. And you could actually have true joy and true hope and true significance and true meaning if Jesus is the Lord. And the fact you say, "I don't want that," means this, the law is still the ruler over you. God's wrath is still on you and you're miserable and you don't even know it. That's bondage. And you don't want any part of that. I don't want any part of that. Friends, if you're born again in Christ, all these things are true about you. You died with Christ, you've been risen with Christ, you're free in Christ. And let me give you a fourth one. It's one of my favorites.

You belong to Christ. You belong to Christ. See, here's what I want you to see. Christians don't fight for their identity. Christians are called to fight from their identity. It's who you already are. You belong to Christ. Christ now owns your life. He says, "Now, if you have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with them, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him." Christ died once for all. He's not coming back to die. It's the reason why for me in the Roman Catholic church where they have mass and they try to crucify Jesus every single time. And then you get the communion elements and you get more of Jesus. It's garbage. He died once for all. He's already died. He rose from the dead. He's as alive as he's ever been. But it cruises to find him all over again, amen? Like the fact is he's alive. He died once for all. And since you've died with him, you've died once for all. For the death he died, he died the sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. Even so, he says, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Some of the older versions read, "Wrecking yourselves to be dead to sin." It means make a careful assessment, pay close attention to this, that Jesus died for all

your sin. As a Christian, your job from this point on is not to try to stop sinning. You can't. Your job is to pursue the one that's conquered sin. Your job is to spend time with the one who's freed you from sin. Your job is to love the one who says who you are in his Word. That's the goal of the Christian faith. That changes everything. Well, I don't want to go to church, I feel guilty all the time. You shouldn't feel guilty all the time. Certainly there's times where the Word of God convicts you of sin, righteousness and judgment. That's fine. But you should be set free to the love Jesus like you never had before. He wants you to love him. You belong to him. I mean, God the Father takes ownership of his family the same way he took ownership of his son, your family now. You're in the family. Family is a closer relationship than anybody else, isn't it? I mean, people can say you can talk to your family in certain ways. You could have difficult conversations with your family, but we'll be it if somebody else comes and has that conversation with your family. You know how protective you get at your family? Real fast. That's how God feels about you. You're his daughter. Know that when Paul was talking to the Corinthians and they were living in Morally, here's what he told them in 1 Corinthians 6-19,

or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own? Do you not know that you're not your own? For you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, right? In John 10, Jesus says, "I hold you, the Father holds you, "no one can take you out of our grasp." You belong to Him. First Peter says, "You are a chosen race, a holy people, "a people of God's own possession." You belong to Him. People say, "Who do you think you are?" (chuckles) I think I've got the son. I've belonged to the king of kings and the Lord of lords. That's who I am, amen? (congregation applauds) And he brought me into his family and he adopted me. He's my dad and he's incredible. He runs the whole universe. He's the one that gave you life. He's the one that gave you breath. He's the one that gave you your body. He's the one that gave you a mission. He's the one you're gonna answer to someday. That's who my dad is. That's who I think I am, right? And when you start to live like that, you live differently. Christianity is no longer about the rules of the road.

When I drive on the highway, I don't think about the rules of the road. My wife wishes I did more frequently. (congregation laughs) But my point is, is that when I get in, I'm not thinking about how to make a right hand turn on how to parallel park or when to put on my blink or what. It's so natural because I've been following them for so long, right? There's things in my life now that I've been following God for so long that have become habits to me, like seeking Him in His word and praying and doing it. 'Cause I know if I haven't had time or I'm on a flight or I didn't get my time in there, I feel different. It's not the same, I need it. But it's not like, oh, somebody's gonna find out I didn't spend time in the word this morning. They're gonna judge me. It's not bad. I don't care about what other people think. There's something empty 'cause I didn't get time. I didn't get the time I needed this morning. I need to spend more time with Him. Amen? I mean, you have to understand, some of you in this room have been adopted, some of you have adopted people. You need to understand when adoption takes place and the judge signs off, it's your family.

You're not like adopted family. You're family, you're in the family. You have every right and privilege as a family. When you wear a wedding ring and say vows, it's family, it's totally different. I mean, I love this, the prodigal son story. There's so much that you can be said about. I love the story, but just to highlight the end, when the younger son comes home and he's repenting to his dad and he can't get out all his words, what's his dad doing? His dad's not saying, okay, you didn't do good, but I forgive you and you can come home. 'Cause what was the younger son's desire? I just want to go home and be a slave. I just want to serve my dad. I mean, the servants from my dad are doing better and I'm doing in this pig pen. So I'm just going to go home, tell my dad, send him against heaven against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Not only does the father embrace him and kiss him, but when the son's repenting and making up all of his excuses and genuinely heartfelt contrition, what's the dad doing? He's calling the servants. He's saying, quick, bring a robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Let's kill the fat and calf and celebrate. What was he saying?

I'm going to put a robe of honor on my son 'cause when we have this party tonight, I want everybody to know that when he comes back, he's not coming back as a slave. He's coming back as my son. And let's put a ring on his finger that has my signant on it. So everybody at the party knows he belongs to me. And let's put shoes on his feet so that everybody knows he's not a slave. Slaves don't wear shoes, my son wears shoes. And oh, by the way, let's kill the most expensive animal we have and have the most gourmet meal 'cause this son of mine was dead and he's alive. He was lost and is now found. He's family and he's welcome home. Amen. (audience applauding) Let me tell you this, when you come to Christ, you come running to the Father who embraces you. Do not believe the lie of the enemy. Here's the lie of the enemy. When you sin, here's what he says. You probably need to take a couple of days and get right before you're ready to go see the Lord. He's kind of busy right now. So maybe if you just read your Bible for three days and pray really hard or go to church service, then you'll be ready to go see the lie. So he tells your old self, new self.

The second you find yourself in sin, run to the Father. Run away from sin and run to the Father. Just run. Get there as quick as you can. And here's what you're gonna experience as a believer. Welcome back. I never wanted you to go. I love you just the way you are. Amen, and I love you enough not to leave you there. Friends, you died, your old life is over. You were raised. God didn't improve you. He gave you a new life. He made you alive. You are free. Sin is no longer your master. We'll talk about it next week, Now there's an interesting story in the Bible and I'll close with this. When Jesus went to heal his really good friend Lazarus from the dead. And when he went there, as we talked about his sister, we're saying, "Hey, if you've been here, he'd still be alive and all this kind of stuff." But he said, "No, here's what I'm going to do." And he stood in front of the tomb and he called out four words, right? Three words actually. Lazarus come forth. It was cool that he called Lazarus because if you've said, "Hey, dead people get up. I mean, there'd been a party there." He called Lazarus specifically by his name and said, "Come forth," and it's interesting. The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with the wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.

So he had been in his grave clothes. I mean, they'd wrapped him up. They were embalming him. They had been doing all these different things. They were getting his body ready for burial perfumes on him. Lazarus comes forth, he comes forth, but he's in all those grave clothes. I mean, he can't really live in his grave clothes, so here's what Jesus says to him. He says, "Unbind him and let him go." Unbind him and let him go. Now, what's that a picture of? What's that a foreshadowing of? It's a foreshadowing of when people come to Christ. You're in new creation, but you still have some of the grave clothes on because this is how you lived, and this is what you -- "Unbind those things and let them go and come to the Father." Yeah, but I used to hang out with this group of people. Yeah, but maybe you can tell them about Jesus, but go hang out with Jesus loving people now. Because the more you're around the people of God, and the more you're around God, the more your life will change. Friends, if you don't know your enemy, you can't defeat him, but if you don't know who God says you are, you'll never have freedom in this life. Those are the two foundational things that we need for this series if we're really going to grow in Christ and who He wants us to be. Amen? I mean, this should be a very freeing message for us because God wants you to be so resolute in your identity. Amen? It's who you are. Now, here's the question. Have you really trusted Christ?

Have you just been playing religious games where your old self says, "Well, if I can just keep being my old self and say, 'I love Jesus,' then I'll do," I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when was the time that you said, "I'm done with this self and I want Jesus and I want to come to Him." Have you done that? And if you have done that, what's keeping you trapped by coming back to your old self? You died. Let the dead man go. Let the dead woman go and come and live your life for Christ. Amen? Would you stand, please? Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are. And Lord, we ask that you would use your word today to encourage us, to instruct us, and to help us walk your way. Lord, we love you so much. Lord, we thank you that freedom is found only in you, that life is found only in you, that Lord, on our own, there's nothing we can do to be made right with you, but you did it all. And Lord, we thank you today for those of us who are born again that we belong to you. If you've never trusted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you've never called Him to be your Lord. Here's what you can pray. Lord Jesus, I'm done with my sin. I confess it to you. Right now I want to turn from my sin and I want to trust you as my personal Lord and Savior. Jesus, come into my life and save me. And then Lord, today too, for all of us here who know you, some of us who have been living out of our old, dead self, here's what we say. Lord, I'm running to you again.

Lord, let me experience your mercy, your grace and your love, a fresh, let the blood of Jesus wash all over me so that I can walk in your ways and do what you've called me to do. And Lord, we give you all the glory. We give you all the honor and we give you all the praise in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Could we give God praise for His word today? [applause]